Horse Racing History
There are probably some people that may think; the Kentucky Derby is really one amazing event, but how did everything start? When was the first horse race held, what did it look like, and was there betting available for it? Well, for the fact, horse racing was recorded firstly in Assyria around 1500 B.C. Later on, a bit modern events were held in Rome that is known as Chariot Racing. The first actual race, held for the reasons of testing the horse’s reliability and speed and for the sake of entertaining visitors was held in an event in London, more precisely in Smithfield, somewhere around 1174.
It has deep roots in the English culture and it is well-known that the Royal Family had been doing horse breeding since Henry II. Later in 1752 the first horse – the Jockey Club was formed and soon after that, the races began. First Derby race was held in 1780 in Epsom, but that wasn’t even close to what we have today. One hundred years later, around 1850, the first major horse events were held and that is when the horse derby races were turned into a sort of tradition. Of course, the idea was to see which one of two horses can cross the finish line faster so they can see which horse is more valuable than the other and which one is worth investing in.
In the British/Irish culture, there are three types of horse races: national hunt, flat and all weather.
Flat races usually start in March and it is the race where horses run a predetermined distance. The races may vary in quality and it depends on how old and what class are the horses that participate in the flat race. The all-weather race is very similar to flat race but the difference is that the terrain is not natural, it is pre-made and it can be used at any time of the year, that’s why it got the name all weather. It is usually used for night time horse races and it tests the horse’s ability to adapt to different terrains. The last type of race is the national hunt, which is a race on long tracks where betting takes place. There are other classifications of national hunt races such as bumpers (races with no obstacles), chases (where competitors clear fences) and hurdles (as the name says, a race where participants jump hurdles). The difference between chases and hurdles is that chases can contain some obstacles such as water lakes, natural ditches, whilst a hurdle race will contain only hurdles.
